Trump nixes sanctions on Israeli settlers days after Biden extended them

As one of his first acts after taking office, Trump rolls back dozens of Biden’s executive orders, including sanctions against a list of Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria – days after Biden extended the order for another year.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Just hours after taking office on Monday, President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders revoking others that were put in place by his predecessor, Joe Biden, including several targeting Israel or Israeli citizens.

Among the executive orders Trump signed that overturned Biden-era policies was a measure terminating restrictions on arms sales to Israel imposed during the war in Gaza.

Additionally, Trump signed a sweeping order overturning 66 of Biden’s executive orders and 12 of his presidential memorandums, including the February 1st, 2024, Executive Order 14115, which targeted Israelis living in Judea and Samaria whom the Biden White House designated as “extremist settlers.”

Last Tuesday, then-President Biden issued a new order extending the sanctions by one year.

Biden issued a statement defending the move, calling the alleged actions of the sanctioned settlers an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to American national security and foreign policy.

“The situation in the West Bank — in particular high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction — has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region,” Biden claimed.

“These actions undermine the foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom.”

The original February 2024 executive order was issued in response to claims by left-wing NGOs in Israel and reports by the United Nations accusing Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria of violence and harassment against Palestinian Arabs in the wake of the October 7, 2023 invasion.